A father-of-one fears that he could have caught the first deadly giant hornet to reach the UK.

Brave Stuart Knowles captured a two inch hornet in a plastic container in a friend’s flat in Cadishead.

He is now planning to send photos of the fanged creature to be examined by the Non-Native Species Secretariat, which is responsible for dealing with invasive animals, insects and plants from outside of Britain. The secretariat is urging people to report possible sightings of the hornets feared responsible for the deaths of six people in France.

Stuart, 29, came to the aid of a friend and neighbour who screamed when she spotted the black and yellow hornet in the bedroom of a four-storey flat in Apple Blossom Grove.

He said: “It was sitting there on the wall in a friend’s house and I knew I had to find something to catch it in quickly.

“I grabbed a plastic container and popped some holes in it so that it could breathe. But it is now chewing at the holes and trying to pull them back in an attempt to get out. It looks evil.

“I think it is one of the Asian hornets because it fits the description. This thing is two inches long and it has fangs.

“I’m not scared but it keeps tapping its feet on the box and it has got some power in its legs.”

The world’s largest hornet species are believed to have entered France in a delivery of pottery from the Far East. Its toxic sting can cause death through anaphylactic shock and kidney failure and each year in Japan up to 40 people are killed by giant hornet stings.

The predators, which hunt bees and other hornet species, have jaws powerful enough to chew through protective bee suits and their venom when sprayed can dissolve human flesh.

It is believed that they could fly across the channel or be accidentally imported with plants and flowers after spreading rapidly in France. The Non-Native Species Secretariat and the British Beekeepers Association have both warned that they are likely to arrive soon.

A spokeswoman for the British Beekeepers Association said the giant hornet was ‘unlikely’ to have been discovered in Cadishead because it is most likely to be found in southern parts of England but said it couldn’t be ruled out.